“I grew up attending church in the Dallas area, which established fertile soil for the seed of the gospel to be planted when I was in high school. I heard God had a plan for my life, but that I was a sinner and my sin created an infinite gulf between God and me. I heard the only way to bridge that gap is through faith in Jesus Christ's death, burial, and resurrection.
“I knew that great news was true, but I didn’t notice a big behavior change. I knew there was sin in my life God was saving me from, but I was a pretty good kid before I trusted in Christ, so when I heard stories of people having radical changes in their lifestyles after choosing to follow Jesus, I was tempted to compare my story with others’.
“As I grew in my faith, I got involved with my church and began to study the Bible regularly. But I began to have questions, like ‘In what sense is the Bible authoritative?’ and ‘In what ways can I trust it?’ I went off to college with those doubts and questions in my mind, but I kept pursuing God, and he kept pursuing me.
“In college, I went to a church that read a lot of creeds—statements of faith from the early church. This was a great exercise for me because it forced me to evaluate what I believed. Each week, we would take communion to be reminded of the gospel. That was when I felt closest to God and experienced his grace the most.
“In my free time, I did a lot of research about the Bible and Jesus. I realized that Jesus didn’t want people to give him mere lip service. He called people to be his followers, giving up their lives in devotion to him. I believed the Bible perfectly matched reality and dedicated myself to living a Christlike life in relationship with him, but I still felt like something was missing.
“Over twenty years later, I learned about a spiritual practice called contemplative reading at my son’s school. It was a different way to read the Bible by thinking about the story and putting yourself into it with all five senses.
“That’s when it clicked: If I was going to love God with all of my mind, like Luke 10:27 says, I couldn't just use my left brain. I had to use my right brain, too.
“Loving God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind didn’t stop there. It overflowed to loving others. I reflected on how Jesus calls us to serve others. Matthew 25:29 says, ‘For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.’ I had been given a lot, but none of those things I had a hand in—it was all God’s grace. So as I looked at areas in our city like South Dallas that hadn’t been given much, I wondered about a faithful next step.
“Matthew 25, verses 35 and 36 say, ‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
“As I thought about all of this, I realized I could use what God has given me, particularly in business expertise, to bless those communities. So I joined Watermark Community Development Corporation (CDC), a ministry partner of Watermark that furthers the name of Jesus by deploying his people and resources to meet the most strategic and transformational economic needs in our community, with key initiatives focused on job creation, financial literacy, and business development.
“I saw a lot of potential for the community in South Dallas to ‘be fruitful and multiply’ (Genesis 1:28) through business and entrepreneurship. And God has made a tremendous impact through Watermark South Dallas and Watermark Community Development Corporation. I now use my experience as a business owner to serve with The Business Cohort, which takes local entrepreneurs through curriculum, encouraging them to grow in the gospel, in their businesses, and in their economics.
“As I have spent more time with people who live in South Dallas, I am learning that God has a grip on his people and he invites us to be a part of the work he is doing. God has opened my eyes to the enthusiastic faith of our friends, brothers, and sisters through Watermark CDC. In this ministry, God is using his people who have skills in finance and business to transform hearts and our city for Christ.”
Learn more about how you can use your skills and talents with Watermark Community Development Corporation to transform the economic welfare of our community through job creation, financial literacy, and business development.